Reds (Bailey) vs. White Sox at 4:05 p.m. ET [Update: Hamilton cut]

The Reds play the Chicago White Sox today at Goodyear Park. First pitch at 4:05 p.m. ET and broadcast by WSAI 1360 out of Cincinnati.

Shin-Soo Choo continues to sit out after suffering back spasms on Friday. C. Trent Rosecrans has Choo saying: “There’s no reason to push it right now,” Choo said. “It’s spring training. If it were the regular season, I wouldn’t be missing games right now, I’d be playing. But right now, there’s no reason to take any chances.” Not much to worry about right now, but I’m raising the DEFCON panic level from 5 to 4. Derrick Robinson, a switch hitter, is leading off today presumably because he’s playing CF. Maybe he’ll cause some havoc on the base paths.

Chris Heisey is batting fourth because he’s playing left field. Brandon Phillips returns from the WBC and bats second. JoeyMVP is back in the lineup after skipping last night’s away game, along with regulars Jay Bruce and Super Todd Frazier. Emmanuel Burris, who seems to be behind both Jason Donald and Cesar Izturis in the competition for the utility IF roster spot, starts at shortstop for Zack Cozart. Devin Mesoraco (.435/.480/.826) catches Homer Bailey. Looks like Dusty Baker is putting that band back together.

Here is the lineup:

Robinson 8

Phillips 4

Votto 3

Heisey 7

Bruce 9

Frazier 5

Burriss 6

Mesoraco 2

Bailey 1

Homer takes the mound for the fifth time. He’s thrown 9 innings in games so far. Spring training stats are pretty meaningless unless I want to make a point using one, but for pitchers, you can get a rough indication how they’re doing by looking at strikeouts and walks. Homer has 8 of the good and only one of the bad. He also killed an African lion with a bow and arrow.

UPDATE: Mark Sheldon is reporting that the Reds have assigned Billy Hamilton and pitcher Drew Hayes to the minor league camp.

Ah, now for a break from the sabermetrics and Chapman debates and time for some baseball. You d’man Homer. Mow ’em down.

I would have liked to see Frazier hitting cleanup with Heisey in the #6 hole.

How about a little hypothetical excercise for the Nation? Let’s assume that Ludwick continues to struggle going into the season (bad Cossack for even suggesting such a thing!) and Meso continues his torrid hitting resurgence. Would the Nation be comfortable with Frazier hitting cleanup and … wait for it … Meso/Hanigan hitting in the #6 hole behind Bruce? That would allow Ludwick to hit in the #7 hole (and possibly platooning with XP for a short time) with Cozart moving to the #8 hole. Of course Ludwick could shake of his ST dodrums any time making the point mute.

@Shchi Cossack: I’m not so sure I’d want Mes in the 6 hole and know I wouldn’t want Hanigan there. I could see moving Frazier to 4 and dropping Ludwick to 6 though. Keep in mind that Baker doesn’t like messing with the batting order too much though.

I haven’t read too much in the off season about this Robinson kid. He seems to be eating up a good chunk of time the Hamilton could have been using learning CF and getting some ABs with the big club. Someone please enlighten me as to what I’m missing with the situation.

I haven’t read too much in the off season about this Robinson kid.He seems to be eating up a good chunk of time the Hamilton could have been using learning CF and getting some ABs with the big club.Someone please enlighten me as to what I’m missing with the situation.

They said all along that Billy Hamilton needs more time to work on things playing everyday at the minor league level before he’s promoted to the Reds.

Derrick Robinson, I think he’s a candidate to be promoted if anything happens to Chris Heisey or Xavier Paul, and the Reds probably want to see how he can do this spring. Robinson is a switch hitter (who hits better left handed) and CF who they can justify keeping on the bench. Other options, like Billy Hamilton and Ryan LaMarre, are pretty sure to be starting somewhere.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Robinson as a 5th outfielder and pinch hitter sometime this year. He has little-to-no power but he can sometimes get on base and maybe even steal a few bases.

@Kyle Farmer: Also, Hamilton had a few minor injuries that cost him a few games, most recently a tight hamstring, I believe, which gave Robinson a better look. When Hamilton hit the triple yesterday, Marty commented that there was no sign of a hamstring issue on that play!

If Chapman ends up back in the bullpen, how bad does the Parra signing look? I’m sure Dusty had to have another left hander assuming he was losing Chapman to the rotation. The Reds lose Redmond, Chapman could be back in the pen, and we may be stuck with Parra. Even if Chapman is in the rotation, I wouldn’t want Parra on the roster. The Chapman situation has been messed up from every angle possible.

If Chapman ends up back in the bullpen, how bad does the Parra signing look? I’m sure Dusty had to have another left hander assuming he was losing Chapman to the rotation. The Reds lose Redmond, Chapman could be back in the pen, and we may be stuck with Parra. Even if Chapman is in the rotation, I wouldn’t want Parra on the roster. The Chapman situation has been messed up from every angle possible.

Keep in mind, that this organization quietly laid off some of their back office employees due to “Obamacare”…:lol: Lets add up some of the bad contracts they’d given to below replacement level players like Renteria, Tavares, Olivo….

@rightsaidred: Huh? ‘illogical, poor reasoning’? Can you elaborate? They asked him for his opinion on the matter, and it was an interesting article. John Smoltz has pretty unique insights on what it takes to be an ace starter vs an ace reliever.

@CP: The Reds are laying off employees due to the Affordable Care Act as the payroll increases significantly? I doubt it.

Miguel Olivo has a minor league contract – an affordable deal, not a bad one.

@rightsaidred: Huh?‘illogical, poor reasoning’?Can you elaborate?They asked him for his opinion on the matter, and it was an interesting article.John Smoltz has pretty unique insights on what it takes to be an ace starter vs an ace reliever.

@CP: The Reds are laying off employees due to the Affordable Care Act as the payroll increases significantly?I doubt it.

Miguel Olivo has a minor league contract – an affordable deal, not a bad one.

I know someone who worked in Group Sales who was laid off due to Obamacare. Is it possible he misrepresented why he was laid off? Yes. Likely? No.

You’re correct that Olivo’s contract doesn’t really belong in that group. There are a lot of other options though, Valdez, OCab, Cairo…

First of all Billy Hamilton needs a full year of playing CF and hitting AAA pitching. Second, Chapman needs to start with a innings limit. Have him start until July. Rest him for 2-3 weeks and then bring him into the bullpen to close with Broxton this season. Leake will pitch in AAA until needed because injury or when Chapman uses up his starter innings. Next year Arroyo will be gone and Cingrani needs a couple years at AAA. Chapman needs to stretched out to be ready to pitch close to 200 innings next year.

“He hasn’t been switch-hitting that long. His record here in spring training, he’s not doing real well for a guy that has speed,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said before the move was revealed. “He’s striking out too much. He had to come here to see where his development is, where he is, and realize he has some ways to go. If he didn’t, he’d be here already.”

This is coming from the same guy who kept running Drew Stubbs out there as our leadoff. Give me a break……..

@Gobucks96: To put that in context, Billy Hamilton got switched to become a switch hitter before the 2011 season, I believe. I assume that’s a big adjustment to start making as a professional, and something that takes time to work on. Drew Stubbs needed to work on batting righthanded, Billy Hamilton needs to work on hitting both lefthanded and righthanded.

The Reds aren’t interested in rushing Billy Hamilton, fine with me. I do hope he learned something this spring. It’s a tribute to the Reds that Shin-Shoo Choo no longer forces the Reds to go with an unsatisfactory leadoff hitter. Choo changed the options on Dusty’s roster, not Dusty’s understanding of what is required by a leadoff hitter. Dusty is lucky that Billy Hamilton isn’t the best option he was given.